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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29817951">Did It and They Didn't Even Know It</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kameiko/pseuds/Kameiko'>Kameiko</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Banter, Bonding, Character Study, Communication, Drama, Drinks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Food, Friendship, Gen, Holding Hands, Insecurity, Plot Twists, Science Fiction, Worldbuilding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:34:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,590</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29817951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kameiko/pseuds/Kameiko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The five android crewmembers that were deployed by NASA are stationed on the moon of Io, Jupiter's third largest satellite and heavily radioactive, are coming to terms with their commitments with their jobs and each other.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Worldbuilding Exchange 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Did It and They Didn't Even Know It</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/graveExcitement/gifts">graveExcitement</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Io Space Station – xx.xx.2038 – Five Android Crewmates</em>
</p>
<p>Meredith’s Story:</p>
<p>A data lab setup is located in the far end of the space station for the android Meredith that’s specifically programmed to test the radiated volcanic rocks picked up from the station’s rover on the moon of Io, Jupiter’s third largest moon. Her activator specifically requested for her to be isolated away from the other androids in fear of her safety and shady financial assets that no donor is willing to talk about. Not the safety she thinks the other meant. No, the android revolution started before the flight crew were supposed to leave one month prior to take off. Then the news came out and the original crew decided to walk off and think for themselves. Because of this inconvenience some last-minute mechanical adjustments and deviant influence parts had to be replaced and taken care of in a turner course. No one needed an android revolution in space.</p>
<p>Not that it matters to NASA. They’re more worried about how much money they would lose due to any androids that decided to take matters into their own hand. That’s why a pre-programmed self-destruct device is added to the android’s chips, and will kill them, causing the ship to register a course destination to home. Everything’s saved, and hopefully the journey home wouldn’t ruin any fine samples or poison the ships quarantine zone enough to make the androids that will go fetch the materials cause their parts to become toxic enough that they start malfunctioning. That would be a whole other issue to explain to the United States government that their little funding brigade went down the toilet in the manner of seconds. Of course this is not taking the other contributors into consideration.</p>
<p>Because of all this, Meredith, the sample collector, finds what she needs under the microscope, picks off little yellow rocks that might serve as a scientific purpose back on Earth, and packages each sample carefully into a test tube. She seals off one of many for the day before going back to her work. When finished for the day she takes a step back to examine the 15 test tubes on the rack next to her microscope. A frown stretches her face as her retinal scans the amount of progress she made is not up to her normal set of the day. There should be at least 20 samples for a completionism days’ worth of data. She starts analyzing everything again, seeing if she’s missed even a particle of a sample that would turn some heads. There’s nothing. She frowns stepping back. Maybe if she views things from a distance something will pop out, like an artist’s vision when they overlooked something up close, they will try a different approach.</p>
<p>
  <em>Knock Knock </em>
</p>
<p>Keith’s Story:</p>
<p>The door opens and enters a male android by goes by the name of Keith, who is the data analyzer of the daily samples. His face is graced with a simple smile and in each hand holds two cups of Thirium, the blue blood of an android that keeps their lifeline going. He hands one to her and plots his butt down on an empty chair in front of the work that he needs to accomplish. He notices instantly at the amount he has to examine will take less time than his usual run of the day. He looks up at Meredith and asks if she’s feeling ok and if her components need to be looked over by the technician to see if there’s anything worth red alerting. He doesn’t receive an immediate response, his retinal displays a caution sign. She’s only staring down at her drink, looking like she’s analyzing the contents. Keith’s vision returns to normal and the smile returns, amused by the sudden mistrust of his ability to make a good up of bio-java. She assures him that’s not the case. She starts the conversation with how the ones that go out on the moon might not be qualified for the job and need to be reprogrammed. That their boss back home is going to see how she failed at the job assigned to her and send another crew to replace her. Her eyes widen at the thought of replacement, which means death in the terms of the human language. She sags her shoulders and sets the cup down.</p>
<p>Keith frowns, not liking the way his co-worker is feeling. He reassures her that they’ll do better tomorrow, rubbing her back with his hand that’s skin peels back out of affection. He cares deeply for her as a sibling would. She’s his first and only friend he’s made here on the station. The only one that stood up for him when the other crew thought he smiled too much. Made fun of him for becoming a potential deviant and to be less human, taunting him that’s what society wants him to believe. She reassured them that their other co-workers data analyses are off the basis of humans that have fed their memory by making them watch those ridiculous biased news reports on the television. Since then she made sure that no such thing ever attempted to brainwash any of them on this ship again by locking the entertainment protocol! Keith appreciated her sentiment and amusingly suggested that day she should become the captain and take them away from this rock baren of ash. She didn’t respond to it. Don’t know who’s listening back home in a very open area. She did receive a warning from home not to mess with the television settings again. She took the threatening tone in stride.</p>
<p>Still, he persists that things will be ok, pulling her into a hug and doesn’t bother waking her up when she goes into sleep mode when she doesn’t want to hear anymore of her own mental processing thoughts. Sometimes even androids just need a break from the things they do on a daily basis to tell the universe: hey, I am still me, but can you cut me some slack? I’m tired. So the stars listen.</p>
<p>Brandon’s Story:</p>
<p>Brandon, one of the two rock collector’s from the outside returns to their bunker to recharge for the evening. When he enters, he sees Keith tucking Meredith away in her charging station. He doesn’t question the sudden thoughtfulness of the other towards their female co-worker, knowing their relationship shares a platonic sibling bond, something he’s never been able to do with his companion. She has never made sure that he doesn’t pass out on the hot lava rocks of Io. Not that he has a reason to blackout, but there should be some thought of it since she’s always scolding him of not being too careful, just like a big sister would do when looking out for the younger sibling. He lets out an inaudible sigh, wanting to hit himself for processing such nonsense. He’s a working android that’s here to do the job, and not worry about what “Smiling Keith” or SHE has to say. He goes to his own station to make sure its on and ready for him to go into rest mode. He doesn’t take notice of the of the other two patrons entering the room.</p>
<p>Sheila’s Story:</p>
<p>Sheila, the other collector from the journey on the outside double checks over her roommate, making sure everything’s properly plugged in, and asking him if they drank their Thirium for the day. She’s not trying to be an annoying big sister, but she’s succeeding in being the annoying big sister like figure. There’s a difference, and she tells Brandon this about 25 times a day or as many times his processor will allow her to before he ends communication with her on a temporary basis. He can’t leave comms off too long or home base will send a caution alert to turn back on communication devices. Sheila gives him a side glance of worry, making sure his emergency activation mode is still good to go. Taking his hand, she shifts through his drives, causing the other to glare and pull away in embarrassment. Sheila lets out a small laugh and informs him that everything is in working order. No one has a reason to worry about anyone shutting down. Brandon doesn’t acknowledge her with a thank you. He turns his head and goes back into sleep mode, not wanting to bother with her constant choices of showing how proud of him she is and the way she tries to cuddle him whenever everyone is working. A job well done deserves all the treats from a good friend!</p>
<p>The treat that night is Sheila secretly leaving her pod after a short power charge to snuggle with Brandon. She places her hand on his arm and sends him a dream of a chocolate Thirium cake. They’re celebrating another successful day of gathering space material for scientific observation. Meredith is worried that the party is distracting them from work, Keith is reassuring everyone that this is OK, Brandon just wants the party poppers to stop popping in his face, Sheila is humming the Happy Birthday tune for some reason, and their leader is making sure all repairs are in working order in a vent behind them. Don’t want the candles to cause a meltdown.</p>
<p>Christopher’s Story:</p>
<p>Christopher, the technician in android and ship repair bursts in with a tablet in their hand. He makes everyone wake up and snap straight out of whatever pod they’re assigned too. Meredith is the first one to ask what’s wrong and why does he look so worried. Christopher makes a comment that the revolution is officially over, and bills have finally turned into laws in an equal rights favor! They don’t have to live in fear and prejudice anymore! Everyone stares at him in disbelief. They couldn’t process the thought of a single word that would get them killed if muttered out loud ringing through their ears. Freedom? This is a foreign concept to them. Keith looks at the tablet to see the president of the United States sign the final piece of the bill to make it official. His face brightens with a smile. Brandon, the skeptical one inches over and asks how true this is? For all they know the people back home could be playing tricks on them. Sheila tells him to stop over analyzing the situation, it’ll only raise his Thirium levels to the point where he’ll burn himself out. Christopher shakes his head and sets the tablet down in the middle of the table. He turns back to them and frowns. This is going to be a hard choice to make.</p>
<p>Their Story:</p>
<p>Brandon yells, “What?! What do you mean we have to leave the planet? Why do you say such things now when we could blow up any second!”</p>
<p>Christopher holds his hand up in front of Brandon’s face. “You need to stop this drabble right now, Brandon. I’ve already deactivated the explosive chips, and if you noticed the work I’ve been putting into the ship you would realize that I have hacked into the source frame and-“</p>
<p>“You hacked into the mainframe!? Alert NASA! We have a deviant!” Brandon smacks Christopher’s hand out from his face. “I knew you were fishy when we first went into space! Whoever ‘programmed’ you made sure to install a rebellious chip of some sort!”</p>
<p>“Don’t be ridiculous!” Christopher pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’ve set a course for home. As far as I am aware, NASA thinks we’ve blown up and-“</p>
<p>Brandon doesn’t let this down. “Blow up!? You allowed the people who take care of us to think we blew up?!”</p>
<p>Sheila pulls Brandon back and has him sit back into his pod. “You need to relax, Brandon. This is a good idea. You and I are finally free from the humans back on Earth and we can go home!”</p>
<p>Meredith looks down at her hands. “But my samples…I worked so hard to analyze and collect them…why am I feeling bad for this…whole thing? I shouldn’t be feeling like this.” She turns to look at Christopher for answers.</p>
<p>Christopher sighs. “We deviated long before we were programmed by our new activators…just…I think someone felt bad for us and made sure some bit of program from the clean sweep stayed in our systems.”</p>
<p>Keith looks past the bedroom to where the terminals are. He looks back to their leader and questions, “This ship didn’t have a return course. How did you manage to come up with that?” He’s intrigued.</p>
<p>Brandon goes to argue about the deviant problem at hand, but Sheila silences him and tells him to go back to sleep. He gives her a look and tells her to stop acting like a mother hen! She corrects him by saying she’s a big sister like figure! There’s a difference! Brandon throws his arms in the air and does as he’s told, knowing full well that arguing with her is a chore that is not considered one of his stronger programing. All the while dreaming about having pre-programed Thirium apple pie at the county fair. She lets out a sigh of relief and goes back to Christopher to tell him to explain his plan.</p>
<p>“I don’t have one after that.” He looks down at the ground sadly with his hands behind his back. “When we land, there might be a chance we get deactivated.”</p>
<p>Meredith rubs her head, mimicking an exasperated motion. “All these might’s. Wouldn’t we be safer and stay here? I don’t mind my work. I actually enjoy it…” She tells herself this, kidding the allusion going on in her head, pretending this is ok…nothing bad is going to happen…right? They wouldn’t die out here in space. They’ll be here forever, just not able to go home and die because of lack of Thirium and repair equipment.</p>
<p>Keith places a hand on her shoulder and gives him his old famous “Keith smile”. “Don’t worry, Meredith. We have each other, and we protect our own.”</p>
<p>Sheila nods at her companions that she agrees with him before shutting back down for the night. Christopher comments that this discussion is over and let him worry about the aftermath of coming back to Earth. They do have samples they could present as gifts or bargaining chips, and there are now laws within the United States government that now protects their rights. Any chance of a foreign attack on their ship might lead to dire consequences that would involve many casualties. The risks of being deleted and destroyed is low. He looks down and scrolls through the pages. There are parades from the human populace in the country that are waving peace and working together signs above their head. Of course, there are a few from the anti-android crowd that are waving their signs of hate and to stop taking away their jobs. He turns off the tablet and places it on the charger by the computer terminal outside.</p>
<p>When he returns to rest for the night, he sees that everyone is soundly in their own version of sleep mode. He’s glad that he doesn’t have to deal with any more questions from his companions. In truth he’s not ready to disclose any of the future endeavors that awaits them on their journey back home. All he knows is he has a crew, no, a family to take care of, and that’s always going to be top priority.</p>
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